Meet six Amazonian women who dare to innovate, lead, and uplift others toward a more equal and inclusive workplace

Women building the future on behalf of Amazon customers

March 03, 2020

Amazonians around the world spend their days striving to delight customers and make their lives easier. Women lead some of the company’s largest and most innovative business teams, and have a positive impact on Amazon products and services.

Meet six Amazonians who dare to innovate, lead, and uplift others toward a more equal and inclusive workplace.

Jenna Powers, Director, Amazon recruiting operations

Photo by JORDAN STEAD / Amazon

"As a Talent Acquisition leader, I am proud to be part of the team responsible for turning more than 40,000 customers into Amazon operations leaders last year, many of whom are women, people of color, identify as LGBTQ, and are military veterans. Over time, these leaders will come to know what I have during my eight-year tenure: that Amazon is a fantastic place to grow your career, to stretch yourself, to innovate, and, most importantly, to be your authentic self - even if that authentic self spends her free time running marathons."

During her Amazon tenure, Jenna has run more than 70 races between 26.2 and 200 miles on four continents.

Melissa Nick, Director, Amazon worldwide operations

Photo by MEG COYLE / Amazon

"I lead a team that fulfills and delivers heavy bulky items for our customers—things like hot tubs, sofas, and exercise equipment. I am most proud of building this network, as we have cut the time to get an order to customers in half, improved quality, and offer scheduled delivery within 3-hour slots on thousands of items. I also created a program called GM Academy, which teaches managers how to lead a team of 4,000+ associates in our fulfillment center network. Teaching newly hired or promoted general manager's how to prioritize their work with our associates, and deliver strong results on behalf of our customers, is extremely fulfilling."

Payal Patel, Quality assurance engineer, Robotics

Photo by JORDAN STEAD / Amazon

"At Amazon, there are endless opportunities to follow your curiosity and expand your areas of expertise. As a Quality Assurance Engineer, I am proud to be a part of the Amazon Scout team, a new, fully-electric delivery system designed to safely get packages to customers using autonomous delivery devices. For someone like me who is new to Robotics, Amazon has provided me the platform to learn and grow. Every day I work with exceptionally smart colleagues shaping the future of the package delivery experience. As an ambitious engineer, and the mother of two kids, my job has given me the needed flexibility to succeed at both."

"I joined AWS in 2016 tasked with global expansion, but knowing very little about cloud infrastructure and services. I went on to build a global business development team. I then moved to a role in Prime Video, knowing only the consumer view of video and livestreaming. I worked with internet service providers to livestream English Premier League in the UK for the first time ever. So many times, we disqualify ourselves for a potential job because we doubt our own capabilities, skills, and experience. Amazon saw possibilities for me that I never imagined. By utilizing the Leadership Principles during the interview process, they focused on my abilities, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills, all of which were underpinned by my experience and education. Amazon has supported my growth and I look forward to seizing more opportunities as I continue my career in global business development."

Sarah Funk, Principal product manager, Kindle International Expansion

Photo by JORDAN STEAD / Amazon

"Our team strives to make reading more available around the world—particularly for those in remote areas or where socioeconomic barriers are high. One of our goals is to make it easy for these readers to pick up a Kindle, find a relevant book, and start reading in seconds. The work we’re doing in this area is indicative of some of the positive changes I’ve seen during my time at Amazon, particularly in regard to diversity and inclusion. I’m especially proud to be in the Inclusion Bar Raiser program, which trains Amazonians to better include customers and coworkers who experience marginalization, with the accountability to real organizational culture change."

Shanika Hope, Head of content and research, AWS Educate

Photo by JORDAN STEAD / Amazon

"As a builder and leader of educational programming at Amazon Web Services, I am proud to help hundreds of thousands of students and educators around the globe invest in their future as they develop technical skills to expand their career choices. Amazon has afforded me the opportunity to grow professionally as both a builder of technology and as a builder of teams. Being a part of a global team committed to a mission of developing and growing tomorrow’s technologists and leaders is why I’m proud to be an Amazonian."